Hey again folks, and welcome to the fifth edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!

As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.

For this week's target, we've picked up on another campaign map. More specifically, "A New Dawn", the first mission from the "StarCraft: Replicant" campaign. Taking place after the fall of Amon in Legacy of the Void, the Replicant campaign focuses on the Protoss trying to rebuild Aiur. The map can be found at the above link.

So for the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to download the map, give it a play-through, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?

This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, June 28, at which point I'll upload thread #6. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.

Weekly Terraining Exercise #249

Hey hey guys!

Out of the orange/blue, I've come up with a random new theme I figured may be interesting: "Melee Situation". For this week's exercise, I'd like you guys to create a scene you would see in an average melee map. What does this mean? Simple: this could be a Baneling drop on a bunch of siege tanks guarding a gold mineral expansion, or something like a 4-gate Stalker push closing in on a Terran base. You don't have to create an entire melee map from scratch, just the terrain and scenario as it would apply in melee.

Let's see how this new abstract theme works out. Good luck & have fun!

I actually thought about this idea, and I think WC3 lends itself well towards a campaign per movie set-up. Think about it:

Movie 1: Thrall leaving for Kalimdor, the introduction of Uther and Jaina, the rise of the Scourge, Arthas' slow descent into madness and the movie ending with him defeating antagonist Mal'ganis before running off into the snowscape. That's a well rounded story.

Movie 2: Undead Arthas waking up and learning of the Dreadlords, figuring out his powers, slaying his father, laying waste to Lordaeron and bringing Archimonde into Azeroth.

Movie 3: Thrall's landing in Kalimdor, the meeting of the Taurens and strife with the centaur, and then finding Humans in Kalimdor. A sub-plot from this point would be Grom Hellscream and his rage, antagonizing the humans from the get-go, and stumbling upon and killing Cenarius. Eventually the viewer finds out Jaina is leading them in a scene featuring the conversation with Medivh, to tie the entire thing back to Archimonde. Grom redeems himself by killing Mannoroth at the cost of his life, at the very end.

Movie 4: The scourge invades Kalimdor in full force, with the world tree being a backdrop that gets closer every seen as Tyrande rushes to wake up Malfurion, release Illidan and rouse the Druids. Eventually Jaina and Thrall show back up as the three races unite for a climactic 30 minute showdown between them and the legion.

I can see half of these scenes in my mind already. They all lend themselves very well to a longer, 3 hour time format. Come to think of it, WarCraft 3 actually had a pretty damn good story. Blizz storywriting is often criticized, but the way the story was presented, the plot twists, and the concept of "a good villain thinks he is right, a great villain is right" that works wonders with Arthas, Grom and Cenarius all provide a damn good piece of storytelling.

Yup, yup. What I'm hoping for would be a third or even fourth movie. It won't be the next one. That said, Thrall's time in Durnholde Keep and the story of how he got rid of the corruption of Gul'dan wouldn't make for a bad movie either.

I personaly enjoyed movie alot, but the diversity of magic shown in cgi feels somewhat lacking, especialy after i saw so many interviews with director who claimed this movie to be the most advanced in special effects department. I expected more diverse color palette for spells and something interesting, like almost trying to implement gameplay logic of spells into movie scene. This is what Lord of the Rings was lacking in my opinion (gandalf with flashlight from his staff = lame) and what i realy expected from Warcraft. (i mean, 4 years of filming, c'mon)

I'm pretty sure what the director was talking about here was Karazhan and Medivh, but really primarily the Orcs. I have to say they looked amazing in every sense of it.

Spoilers below

The movie wasn't the cheap popcorn flick I expected it to be, but it wasn't great either. It's a nice addition to the universe for fans of WarCraft, but I can imagine that those not into it already just spent a lot of time being confused or finding the story somewhat lame. The way Garona 'turns good' is absolutely unbelievable in the movie, even if it's obvious they really tried to make it a gradual explainable thing. We're seeing her go from being an Orc/siding mostly with Orcs to becoming a staunch protector of King Llane in a timespan of seemingly a week or so. Had I not known there was some more behind that in the universe, I would've thought this was an exceptionally weak plotline.

That said, I thought the storyline was okay, or at least better than average. It takes a couple of somewhat unsuspected turns, and in a world so saturated with stories that's a decent achievement. It's not a Game of Thrones level plot, but it's 'okay'.

What I am excited about, though, is the second war. I'd absolutely love to see one or two movies depicting the events of Tides of War and Beyond the Dark Portal, with Khadgar, Alleria and the likes going through to close it on Draenor. I mean: I'd also love four movies depicting the campaigns from Reign of Chaos, but Tides of War seems like an actual possibility.

Weekly Terraining Exercise #248

Hey hey guys!

For this week's WTE, I've got a theme that may be fun to explore. We've had a WTE before where the aim was to make a terrain focusing on the color blue, and that got me thinking: what if we focus on the infamous Orange/Blue Contrast for once? As such, this week's theme is "Orange/Blue". What does this mean? You create a terrain in which the colors orange and blue are prevalent and in contrast with each other.

It's a bit of a side thing - I figured I wouldn't put up a huge news post everytime a new one goes up. Just keep a look-out and you'll see them pop up every now and then. They'll each stay up for at least a month or so, so they'll be hard to miss.

Hey again folks, and welcome to already the fourth edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!

As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.

Within the BWTT, we don't discriminate, and as such this week we've picked a fairly unknown mapper's project and thrown it up for testing. R0binicus' newly released "Stranded on Krydon Renewed" map is a co-op survival experience that forces players to work together to defend and overcome an attacking Zerg force. A simple concept, but in a completely up-to-date rendition. You can find the map on the Arcade in all regions under the same name.

For the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to host this map, team up with a few buddies, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?

This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, June 14, at which point I'll upload thread #5. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.

Weekly Terraining Exercise #247

Hello?

Does anybody remember last week's WTE, by any chance? I sure don't. Well, either way, it's monday, which is the day we usually put up a new WTE, I believe. However, since there's no apparent theme, this week's WTE theme is "A Mystery". What does this mean, you ask? I have no idea! I suppose you make a terrain that is also in some way a mystery, however you interpret that. Pretty strange, no?

To answer your questions: I'm really only looking for people who would call themselves active players of a MOBA at this particular moment in time. It doesn't matter if you only play the game 2-3 hours every other week, as long as you would still call yourself 'a player'. "I haven't played it in months but I used to" isn't of much use for my purposes. Thanks either way, though!

edit2: looked through the surveys, is it intentional, that for some games you only ask about skins and for others you ask about bought heroes and hero usage?

Yes. I ask about certain mechanics within each game. Since the games aren't identical, the mechanics present aren't either. It's pretty much just regular hero/champion/god skins that are present in all four games.

Perhaps this is a bit of a long shot, but as a Master student in Game Studies I am writing my master thesis on MOBA mechanics. As such, I am looking for players of League of Legends, Defense of the Ancients 2, Heroes of the Storm, or Smite, to help me out by filling in my survey: